*note, dooms dayers and negative Nancy's will not enjoy this thread please turn around and exit now thanks

Year four-Rehabbing our star qb all off-season, didn't get the reps nor the practice he needed to take it to the next levelHands tied in free agency due to final year of 18 million being stolenNot great draft position and no first (all things considered we still did damn good to grab a couple starters)After winning the division we have the hardest SOS

Not a good recipe to win it all-clearly. Now looking at that list and moving forward to next year Full off-season for mr RGiii to develop (has already made strides in reading the D, making his reads, playing "safer", staying in the pocket, pump faking defenders, throwing it away, even his leadership and pressers are improvi.g... Yes still can improve but give credit where its due)Off-season to develop better rhythm w his wideouts tooWith Fletcher, sleepy, and possibly Moss gone plus 18 million (ill leave the numbers to 1sniksder) point being we got some money to blow!No first rounder still but better draft position obviouslyAnd here is the kicker... We lose the division and have the easier SOS next year.. look what a difference it made for KC! They might make the playoffs due to playing crappy teams for the first half of the year!!

So, in conclusion- I'm totally against losing on purpose, but we couldn't win it all this year, and we are looking pretty headed into next year... I'm a blind homer for sure but there us a lot to look forward to with this team and the faithful will be rewarded!

Fair enough but realize all teams only have 2 strength of schedule games. Our record last year has only determined one of our games so far - 49R (lost). The other is ATL (next week). If the season ended today our SOS games next year would be VIK and RAM. We also play NOS, CAR, BUC, ATL, IND, TEN, JAG, and TEX. The relative ease or difficulty of those 8 games compared to NFC North and AFC West this year is much more impactful than the 2 SOS games.

BTW - 49R went to the Superbowl and their SOS games this year ... WAS and ATL.

This year was not to be "our year" with many cards stacked against us including the SOS.. next year we will have the luxury of the SOS working in our favor PLUS we play weaker divisions, imo, making the entire schedule seem "easier" then this year.

I'm not saying people are dropping passes on purpose.. but I wouldn't be surprised if the game planning is to see how somethings may or may not work vs being all in it to win out... At least since we were to far in the hole. Winning it all,just didn't seem likely this year from the get go, Shanny knew that I'm sure. We are in prime position to make a statement next year though, and its probably not all a coincidence.

*this isn't the first time I credited Shanny w being some kind of elaborate mastermind (to get rgiii in the first place) . Maybe the 5 year plan was to win it all on year 5, who knows?

Snyder, Shanny , and Allen knew sanctions were coming. They'd been warned and only the amount remained. They decided to go through with the RGIII blockbuster deal. If penalty was not too harsh they could make up for lost picks via FA. If penalty was harsh (it was) they couldn't afford to sign those 1st rounders anyway so "might as well unload 'em and get Griff."

Snyder, Shanny , and Allen knew sanctions were coming. They'd been warned and only the amount remained. They decided to go through with the RGIII blockbuster deal. If penalty was not too harsh they could make up for lost picks via FA. If penalty was harsh (it was) they couldn't afford to sign those 1st rounders anyway so "might as well unload 'em and get Griff."

Not sure that theory holds up very well with the rookie pay scale. Maybe five years ago.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------"You can't do epic **** with basic people." - DJax"We’re winning off the field, but we’ve got to start winning on the field." - Bruce Allen